(TO CREATE A 12-MEMBER PANEL TO REVIEW ALL FLORIDA TAX EXEMPTIONS)
 
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT REFUSES DIRECT APPEAL OF TAX REVIEW AMENDMENT

The Florida Supreme Court has refused to take an appeal of a challenged constitutional
amendment directly from the trial court level.

The ballot measure would set up a special legislative panel to review, and possibly eliminate, any of the state’s sales tax exemptions, including the one on accounting services. Attorneys for the FICPA and several other business groups argued that the proposed amendment misleads voters because it doesn't clearly state that decisions of the tax review panel are final if the full Legislature does not overturn them. Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Clark ruled late last month that the measure could stay on the ballot.

In a 4-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, Aug. 30, that the case should be sent back to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee to handle. Justices Charles Wells, Peggy Quince, Major Harding and Leander Shaw voted to send the case to the appeals court; Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Harry Lee Anstead voted to hear it.

The decision overrules a previous one by the First District Court of Appeal. Even though the appeals court deemed the case to be of “great public importance” and passed it through directly to the Supreme Court, the new decision remands the case back down the appellate system.

Shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling, the FICPA and other business groups’ attorneys filed a motion in the First District Court of Appeal, requesting an expedited briefing and argument schedule. The court later announced that oral arguments will be held on Friday, Sept. 13.

“We will continue to oppose this ill-conceived and poorly worded ballot measure,” said FICPA CEO-Executive Director Lloyd “Buddy” Turman, ”because it’s a bad deal for Florida’s economy and a bad deal for Florida’s taxpayers.”

The FICPA will keep you informed on the status of its legal challenge to Amendment 5 through future "Leadership Updates."